Google’s Project Tango Hits The UK

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Software allows a device to ‘see’ itself in its surroundings thanks to 3D-mapping technology

Google has released a UK version of its Project Tango development kit, a system that combines a range of various smart technologies to power a tablet device that is able to use the likes of 3D mapping to place itself in the real world.

Available on a tablet device costing $512, Project Tango is intended to be used by developers to create new technologies and services for consumer-facing mobile devices.

Aware

Originally announced in February 2014, Project Tango is part of Google’s efforts to help make mobile devices more intelligent than ever.

Powered by an Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, it comes with a four megapixel camera working with a motion-tracking camera and 3D depth sensing, to see in three dimensions, as well as an accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, GPS, ambient light sensor and a compass.

This all combines to allow the device to create 3D scans of the world around it in real-time, as sensors make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around it.

Google sees the potential use cases of Project Tango including the likes of augmented reality and virtual applications, with examples such as the hyper-accurate mapping out of dimensions or building indoor mapping funcationality.

“We’ve seen developers build products where you can say ‘find me the Oreos’, and the device will give you an accurate map through a store to where they are kept – even with no GPS or signal at all”, Tango’s product manager Larry Yang told the Guardian.